"I have no ego issues," opines Ajinkya Rahane

It really doesn’t get easy for a player to be an integral part of the unit at one point and become an outcast due to various reasons. Watching other youngsters take his position just makes things even more challenging mentally for many, but Ajinkya Rahane reckons he has no ego issues whilst he’s with the team.

From captaining the Indian side in the Test series against Australia, Rahane was a 12th man in the entire Champions Trophy. In the ODI series against West Indies, where Rohit Sharma was rested, he grabbed the opportunity with both the hands and made Virat Kohli’s job even more difficult to select the playing XI in the up coming series.

In an interview with PTI, Rahane mentioned that despite being the vice-captain of the Indian team, he will be performing his duties as a 12th man in the side sincerely. “The moment you are representing your country, you are suppose to do whatever you are assigned. When I was carrying drinks during the Champions Trophy, I had no ego issues. That’s how I am as a person,” the Mumbaikar said.

His success in the West Indies tour was very imperative, according to the opener. He said that this series was a special one for him and he’s glad he was able to pull off something remarkable.

“This series is an important one for my ODI career and getting runs in almost all the matches was a really satisfying feeling. I got opportunity to show a different side to my batting and express myself differently,” he said. The 29-year-old also added that the pitches were a bit sluggish and offered quite a unique challenge.

Need patience to excel

The Caribbean conditions offer a different challenge to any batsman and without patience, it’s next to impossible to succeed. Rahane also said that he had to adjust to the conditions, for which he had to stay away from his natural attacking style and be patient to get the runs.

“By instinct, I am an attacking batsman but the pitches in the West Indies required a different mindset. It required patience and at times not get enticed to go for the big ones. Discretion was necessary in shot selection. When we talk about discretion, that’s where the mind comes into play, to be able to think clearly what are the shots that I am going to play in a particular situation, on a particular kind of pitch,” he said.

Never ever been insecure

Rahane also quoted that his spiritual gurus had advised him to stay calm and collective regardless of his performances. He said that the biggest lesson of his life is to keep things as simple as possible.

“It’s always good to have competition. As far as I am concerned, I have never ever been insecured in my life. Actually my spiritual guru tells me one thing. It is very important to live in the present, irrespective of whether you are playing or not. The biggest lesson of life for me is to keep things simple.

“As far as batting order is concerned, when you are playing for India, if the coach and the captain tells you to perform a particular duty, you do it. So if I am told to bat at a particular position, I will perform to the best of my abilities,” he said.

Talking about the upcoming series in Sri Lanka, he sounded very confident that India will do a good job and will not take the Lankan side for granted after watching their recent performances. He said that it’s important to respect the quality side they are and ensure no one in the team gets complacent.